Decorating for religious holidays and observances, national holidays and commemorations, and personal accomplishments, milestones, and achievements is a time-honored activity that spans cultures, time periods, and nations. The decorations can be store bought or handmade, and such decorations can be hung, strung, affixed, mounted or otherwise arranged indoors and outdoors on all manner of residential dwellings, public buildings, office cubicles, courtyards, city squares and parks. One of the most common types of decorations is lights or strings of lights, and although they are most commonly associated with the Christian holiday of Christmas, they are now used as decorations for a wide range of occasions and observances ranging from Halloween, Easter, and The Fourth of July to summer picnics and parties, graduation, commencement, and birthday observances and celebrations. The colors of the lights have now been expanded to correspond to the particular holiday, observance, or occasion, and lights, either as stand-alone items or arranged on strings, are specifically marketed for the particular holiday, occasion, celebration or observance. However, the overwhelming majority of decorative colored lights are of the plug-in type that must be plugged into an electrical outlet or receptacle (indoor or outdoor) and powered from standard electrical current—primarily house or residential current. This presents numerous problems that include the very real danger of electrical shorts and shocks occurring as the electrical string or cord the lights are mounted on extends along the ground and is exposed to outdoor conditions that can include rain, sleet, frost, and snow. In addition, electrical extension cords are often used with the decorative light strings, and along with the abovementioned dangers of electrical shorts and shocks, lengths of extension cord strung along the ground and about a yard to electrical outlets present the additional hazard of being run over by automotive vehicles and lawn mowers and causing people to trip and fall over them as they aren't visible at dusk or night and may be covered by leaves, grass, and snow. Thus, the prior art discloses a variety of light systems and arrangements some of which are solar powered to obviate the above problems.
For example, the Frost et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,470) discloses a self-contained solar powered lamp and which is used to delineate certain predetermined boundaries without effectively illuminating the area.
The Chien patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,756) discloses a solar powered warning light for powering warning lights adjacent or alongside roads and highways to warn drivers of road hazards and environmental hazards and which includes a recharging network for a single nickel-cadmium battery.
The Bell patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,458) discloses an illuminated landscape edging with the landscape edging including edging sections and each edging section having a tubular member for enclosing therein a length of a string of Christmas lights and a planar member attached to the tubular member for insertion into the ground to support the edging section.
The Herring et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,202 B1) discloses an illuminator for illuminating tombstones and which includes an alignment adjuster and a lens and which is solar powered.
The Bunch et al. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,255 B2) discloses an illuminated umbrella assembly having self-contained and replaceable lighting and wherein the lights are protected by various components of the umbrella.
These and other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a perusal of the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures and appended claims.